Political Quotes

“The gentleman pointed out something that is so true. That is, that this year as we work to balance the budget for the fourth year in a row, we are going to be adopting a plan that once again sets aside 100 percent of Social Security for Social Security, walling off the Social Security trust fund so it cannot be used for anything else, stopping the raid on Social Security. Again which is one of the Republican priorities. We are also going to, of course, strengthen our schools; and we are going to pay down the national debt. But as we work to address the issue of fairness in the tax code, I find in the south side of Chicago and in the south suburbs that I have the privilege of representing in Illinois, people say, 'My tax burden is too high.' They point out that 40 percent of the average Illinois family's income goes to government in Washington, in the State capital, the local courthouse, of course in local, State and Federal taxes and that it is the highest tax burden in peacetime history. Only at the end of World War II has our tax burden on our Nation been higher than it is today. They complain about that. They are unhappy that this tax burden is so high. They are frustrated because they feel they can better spend those dollars. The other point they always make to me is they are frustrated about how complicated and unfair the tax code is. They think it is wrong that under our tax code that 28 million married working couples pay higher taxes just because they are married.”